Yarn tester

ABSTRACT

464,202. Testing strength and extensibility of yarn. PAGNACCO, A. Nov. 30, 1936, No. 32744. Convention date, Nov. 30, 1935. [Class 106 (ii)] In a yarn - testing machine in which thread lengths are brought successivelyandautomatically into the clamps of a straining device and mean strength values automatically recorded, a distributer provided to carry the ends of the threads from a plurality of bobbins is controlled by the machine drive so that the ends of the threads are brought one after another within the range of the introducing member after a predetermined number of tests on each thread. General Operation. When the main switch 71 is made, the motor P is started and a clutch 43 operated by a solenoid M is thrown into engagement with the drive which rocks a shaft 44 carrying arms 45 through a half turn. At the ends the arms carry spring disc grips 46 for the thread. The thread ends from several bobbins are brought to a distributer 56 of segmental shape pivoting about a shaft 56&lt;1&gt; and formed with ratchet teeth 57 at the lower end and with a wooden segment 58 at the upper end. The latter has an eyelet 59 and small spring grip 60 for each bobbin, the end of the thread being passed through the eye and into the grip 60. The arm 45 lies under the distributer and. on rocking engages the thread end in grip 46 and carries it forward. The main spring testing grips 1, 1a are opened by wedges 49b on levers 49 which are rocked by a roller 48 engaging a circular cam groove 471 in a cam plate 47 on the shaft 44 the groove having two recesses at opposite ends of a diameter. The arm 45 advancing lays the thread in grip 1 and carries it over a feeler 30 on a pivoted mercury switch 31 and into the grip 1a. The depression of the switch 31 makes the circuit of a solenoid N to operate clutch 28 for the tension applying means, the arm moving switch 64 or 65 to declutch its drive. Tensile straining device. This comprises a parallelogram linkage 21, 22, 23, 24 of which link 21 carries the switch 31 and grip 1a. The linkage is rocked by a reduction drive 29, 27 through clutch 28. Recording stress. The grip 1 is connected by sliding rod 2 and chain 3 to a sector 4 on shaft 5 which carries an arm 7 and pendulum 6. Pawls 9, 10 carried at each side of the arm engage respectively a toothed quadrant 12 and toothed wheel 16 loose on shaft 5. As the shaft is turned, the pendulum 6 is raised and when the thread breaks, the pendulum returns to zero, the pawls 9, 10 rotating the quadrant 12 and wheel 16 to the extent of movement of the pendulum. A quadrant 13 in one with the member 12 gears with a quadrant 14 on a lever 15 and thus raises the pen T1. The wheel 16 is geared by a reduction gearing with a similar quadrant and gear connected to a pen T2. This quadrant is engaged by a friction brake and thus with the wheel 16 is held in the position reached. A fixed pin 11 disengages pawl 9 in the zero position. The reduction gearing is nÎm times slower than the shaft 5 where n is the number of spools and m the number of tests on each spool. The pen T1 shows maximum and minimum stresses whereas the pen T2 has successive tests added to it in the reduced ratio and shows the average of all tests. Control. A wheel Z has as many notches on its periphery as there are bobbins, for instance seven, and is advanced by a pawl-andratchet gear from rod 41a a seventieth of a turn at each test. At the tenth test, a notch tilts switch 66 and closes momentarily a circuit of an electromagnet S to allow quadrant distributer 56 to move so that the thread end of the next bobbin is over part 46. When successive bobbins have been presented to the part 46 and the complete seventy tests made, a pin y on disc z tilts a switch 68 to make the circuit of a solenoid R which releases the friction brake and allows the wheel 16 to return to zero under the influence of the weights of quadrants &amp;c. Recording strain. A third pen T3 is connected to one end of a lever 32, the other end of which is connected to a flexible member which passes around a pulley 34 carried by a lever 35 and is attached to a pulley 36 on shaft 5. A second flexible member 37 fixed at 38 passes around a similar pulley on the axis of the pulley 34 and is fixed to a quadrant 40 connected by bell-crank 41 and rod 41a to link 22. The proportions of parts are so chosen that as long as the length between grips 1, 1a is constant no relative movement occurs between members 33, 37, but on strain occurring, the lever 32 is tilted to move pen T3.

Dec. 5, 1939. A. PAGNACCO' 2,132,349 I YARN TESTER Filed Nov. 25, 1936 4 Sheets- Sheet 1 m p/r/mz Bram/M01040:

diff/71ft BPAWK/A/G Amp ALONG/1770M Fig. 1 l

- ATILORNEVS Dec. 5, 1939. A PAGNACCO 2,182,349

YARN TESTER v Filed; Nov. 25, 1936 4 Sheetssheaf. 2

as 7i? E /6 39 INVENTOR ARRIGO PAGNACCO AT'roRNExs Dec. 5, 1939.

A. PAGNACCO 2,182,349

YARN TESTER Filed Nov. 25. 1936 4 Sheets-She et 3 ELECTEI n Ma we we 7 'HZUED-MAGWET I224 mane/aura: 56

eLzcTo MAG/var I INVENTOR= ARRIG'O PAGNACCO B M9 ATTORNEYj 9- A. PAGNACCO 2,182,349

mm TESTER Filedflov. 25, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig.8

- ATTdRNavs Patented Dec. 5, 1939 PATENT OFFICE YARN TESTER Arrigo Pagnacco, Venice, Italy Application November 25 1936, Serial No. 112,687 y In Italy November 30, 1935 6 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for the mechanical test of yarn strength.

An object of this invention is to insure a more reliable working than could be obtained by prior machines.

A further object of this invention is to simplify the construction of known machines for testing yarn strength.

A still further object of this invention is to make the working of such machines fully automatic.

With these and further objects in view, the invention consists of certain new constructions, arrangements and combinations of parts. Among them, the most important is the provision of a distributor supplying threads from a plurality of bobbins and operated in such manner that said threads from the various bobbins are automatically brought one after another within the range of the mechanism introducing them into the tensile straining device.

The change of the bobbins takes place as soon as a determined number of tests have been carried out on the thread of one bobbin.

The drawings show by way of example a tester embodying the features according to this invention. v 1

Figures 1 and 2 show in continuation of each other a side viewof the apparatus. 7

- Figure 3 is a plan view of Figure 2 and part 01' Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a front view of a portion of the recording mechanism drive.

Figure 5 is a front view of a clamp of the tensile straining device.

Figure 6 is a front view of the distributor or thread changing device.

Figure 7 is the wiring diagram, and

Figure 8 is a partial plan view which illustrates the feeding of the threads from the bobbins to the distributor.

The apparatus comprises, in combination, the thread distributor, a tensile straining device, the feed device introducing the thread between the two clamps of the tensile straining device, the

clamps and the recording mechanism connected with the other clamp. The apparatus'is further provided with hand-operated switches for actuation by the operator.

The thread F to be tested is stretched betweentwo clamps shown diagrammatically in Figures 1 to 3 where they are designated by l and la,

and theconstruction of the same will .be de-- scribed with reference to Figure 5 where it is shown in greater detail. The clamp I (Figures -1 and 3) is carried by one end of the rod 2 sliding horizontally between guides 2a and 2b and of which the other end is provided with a chain 3 attached to the pulley sector 4 keyed on- 5 the shaft 5, to which is also keyed the pendulum 6, said-pendulum being lifted in clockwise direction when the clamp l is drawn by the thread F towards the right. The pendulum has rigidly attached thereto the arm I carrying on eachside 10 by means of a crossniember 8 the pawls 9 and I0 engaging'the sawteeth of the sector I! and wheel [6, respectively.

The toothed sector It is connected through the shaft 5 with the sector [2 and meshes with 5 the sector I on the arm l5 which latter is journalled on the frame of the machine and actuates through the link E1 a recording needle T1 guided between rails G1. The wheel l6 drives through a reducing gear constituted by the toothed wheels ll a second sector equal to and co-axial with the sector ll said second sector actuating through an arm equal to the arm It (said sector and arm are not visible in the drawings, being covered by sector I4 and arm l5) and the link E2 a'further needle T2, guided between rails G2. The ratio of the reducing gear is nxm (m= number or bobbins, n=number of tests on each bobbin), so that the stroke of the needle T2 for a given rotation .of the shaft 5 is nXm times smaller than that of the needle T1. A chart of some kind is moved under the needles. This mechanism is not illustrated because it may be a common one in the pertinent art. By way of example, supposing 'm to be equal to-seven and n to be equal to ten, the needle 'I'a performs a movement which is one-seventieth oi the movement or the needle T1. The toothed sector II is under the action of the weight I8 articulated to an arm thereof (Figure 1).- Therefore, when 40 the pawl is disengaged .irom the sector ll, the needle T1 turns to zero. The toothed wheel l6, however, under the acton of a friction brake l9 actuated by the spring l9a. or by one of the toothed wheels II (Figure 4) tends together with its respective needle T: to remain in the position to which it has been brought. When' the thread F draws the clamp I towards the right, due to the operative connections just described (rod 2, chain 3, sector 4, shaft ,5, arm 1), the pawls 9 and Ill ride on the sets of sawteeth of the sector l2 and wheel l8, respectively. When the thread breaks the arm F with the pawls 9, It returns under the action or the pendulum 8 and said pawls engage the teeth or shall start from the apex of the line of the first test, and so on; at the end of the nxm (seventy) tests the apex of the diagram described by this needle T: gives the mean value of the measurements on the same scale as the first needle T1,

average measurement having been made on seventy times smaller scale.

The second needle T2 is automatically restored to zero at the end of the nxm'(seventy) tests. For this purpose the brake I9 is provided with an arm releasing the wheel against the action of the spring Ida, whereby the needle T2 is restored to zero by virtue of the weight of its supporting arm. Arm 20 is actuated by an electromagnet R, the operation of which shall bedescribed hereinafter. In other words, the needle T1 marks as many lines as there have been individual tests made. The length of each line corresponds to the breaking load of its respective individual test. This set of lines permits reading of maximum and minimum values. The needle T2 marks one line only, which is of the same order of length as the lines marked by T1 and indicates the average breaking load of all tests carried out. The needle T3 marks, as will The other clamp Ia of the tensile straining defvice is carried by the horizontally movable link 2| of the'articulated parallelogram formed by the links 2|, 22, 24 and member 23 (Figures 2 and 3), the member 23 being fixed to the base plate K of the apparatus. To the shaft is keyed besides the link 24 the long arm 25 whose toothed segment 2'! meshes with the pinion 28 to which a very slow rotary motion is imparted by the electric motor P on each test by means of a gear drive 29 controlled by the electromagnet N. By lowering ,the feeler 30 the thread itself operates a mercury switch 3| carried by the link 2i of the parallelogram, as soon as the thread'F at the end of thetest breaks, whereby the circuit of the electromagnet N is opened and the parallelo gram resumes its zero position by virtue of its own weight. I I

For recording elongation tests a third needle Ta (Figure '1) is provided which is guided be-j tween rails G3 and operated through the link Ea by one of the arms of the beam 32,- to the other arm whereof the end of the flexible link 33, which may be a steel wire or band, is anchored, said flexible member being wound upon the pulley 36 of the lever and anchored to the pulley 36 keyed on the shaft 5. A second flexible link .37 is anchored at one end to a fixed member 38, and runs over a second pulley 39 on the lever 35 and is attached at its other end to the pulley sector 46 integral with the bell crank lever M which is connected by means of the rod 4M: with the link 22 of the pulling parallelogram. The flexible links 33 and 37 are stretched by the weight of the pulleys 34 and 39 and lever 35. The propor tions of the lever arms and radii of the pulleys 36 and 49 are such that when the distance lie-- tween the clamps i, la remains unvaried, that is to say if the clamp Ia does not move forward by an extent greater than the clamp I,the beam cally replaced by a fresh thread which is pulled either from the same bobbin or, after 11. tests (ten in the above -mentioned. example) on a bobbin, from a further bobbin the thread of which is substituted for the former by the distributor.

The introduction of the thread into the clamps I and la is effected by a feed mechanism which is visible in Figures 2 and 3. The feed mechanism comprises a double arm slightly exceeding in length the distance between the clamps I and la and provided at its ends with resilient pliers formed by two curved plates 46 which are slightly compressed by a spring (not shown) and adapted to catch the end of a thread when it comes within their circular path. The arm 45 is driven in clockwise direction by the electric motor P by means of the toothed wheel 42 through a clutch 43 operated by the electromagnet M, so that the arm 45 performs half a turn whenthe pendulum 5 is returned to zero. The wheel 42 is keyed on the shaft 44 at equal distances from the two clamps. To the same shaft 44 is further keyed the hub of said double arm 45. A cam disc 41 is keyed on the same shaft 44 and is formed with a circular groove 41', having two re-entering portions in the form of large We at opposed points on the diameter perpendicular to the arm 45 only one of these Vs being visible; in Figure 2. A'roller 48 runs in this groove and to the pivot thereof are articulated the ends of the two beams 49 rockably mounted on the pivots 49a of a vertical fixed plate L, the pivots 4911 being adjustable in height. The free ends of the beams 49 by means of wedges 49b carried thereby open and hold open the clamps I and la. The clamps are opened as soon as one of the pliers 46 has caught the end of the thread due to the dropping of the wedges 49b when the roller 48 leaves the notch in the groove 41'. When the roller 48 re-enters a notch in the groove 41', the wedges 491) are raised and the clamps I and la closed, the latter shortly after the former. The feeler 30 being lowered, pulling ofthe thread starts by the action of the articulated parallelogram, while the feed mechanism remains inoperative and in a well-defined position. The clamps I and Ia comprise each (Figure 5) a jaw 50 fixed on the link 2| with a thread-guide 50a and a jaw 5| articulated to the former and provided with a spring 52 which keeps it close to the jaw 50. A small arm 53 having a roller 53' is secured to the jaw 50 which carries the pin 50b for the bell crank lever 54 of which one arm carries the roller 54' opposing the roller 53', and the other arm whereof is formed with a tooth 55 which by riding on an inclined surface Mo on the jaw 5| may push this latter away from the jaw 50 against the spring action. The tooth 55 is caused to ride on the surface 5i by drawing the two rollers 53' and 54 away from each other by the wedges 49b of the beams 49 during rotation of the M45.

- 8,182,849 The distributor (Figures 1, 6, and 8) comprisesa sector 56 rotatable about a pivot 58' parallel to the thread F and situated to the left of the pliers 46 of the feed mechanism. The sector 56 is formed at its lower part with a set of sawteeth 51 and at its periphery on a segment oi wood 58 an eyelet 59 and a small arm 80 are provided for each bobbin, the small arm 60 being equipped with a spring 6| forming with the arm resilient pliers. In Figure 6, the five first pliers 60, ii, etc., are omitted for the sake of clarity. The end F of. the thread F on each bobbin runs through the eyelet 59 and is placed between the pliers 60, 6| before a series of tests (Figure 8).

The circular path of the pliers 46 of the feed mechanism intersects the line of the thread end F. 0n raising the left hand pliers 46, they will engage the end F of the thread and carry same first to the left of and then over the clamp in a semi-circular movement, thereby drawing the thread F from the bobbin. At a determined position of the pliers during this movement the thread F is inserted from above into the clamp i, whereupon the latter closes under the action of the above described mechanism. Shortly thereafter, the thread from above also arrives into the clamp Ia, whereupon the latter closes. When the pliers 46 have reached the end of their semi-circular displacement, the thread that had first been held by clamp l and then by clamp la, has been fully drawn out from the'pliers, this being made possible by'the particular construction of the pliers 46 from parts which are lightly pressed against each other by springs. In preparing for the next test the other pliers 48 now turned towards the distributor meet the length F" of the same thread no longer retained by the pliers Gil-8| situated betwen the clamp l and eyelet 59, and so on for an 71 (ten) number of times preset. A suitable mechanism hereinafter described closes after these tests on a bobbin the circuit of the electromagnet S. The arms.- ture of said electromagnet S is connected with a pawl 62 acting on the set of teeth 57.' Therefore, every time the electromagnet S is actuated,

'i. e., after 11. tests made on the same thread,

the sector 58 is rotated through said angle thereby bringing the end of the thread on the nest bobbin into the path of the pliers 45. Figure 5 shows in dot and dash lines the position of the sector 58 before the tests and in full lines the position after 5 (=m) forward movements. n(=10) tests on the same thread have been carried out between two successive forward movements.

In Figure 8 the position of the sector 56 drawn in full lines is the position before the tests and the one in dot and dash lines is the position after mx'n tests have been carried out. The bobbins are fitted on a corresponding number of spindles 10 carried by? the bedplate K o! the apparatus (Figures 4 and 8). As'the clamp la opens the broken tested threads will automatically fall oil.

Actuation of the electromagnet S is effected by means of a wheel Z (see diagram in Figure 7) which performs a fraction end of the arm 45.

notches, teeth or the like as there are m (seven) spindles under test, by means of which'it closes for an instant the said circuit of the electromagnet S every nth (tenth) displacement.

The various elements of the apparatus are actuated one after another automatically in the desired order by virtue of the interlocking of electrical circuits according to the diagram in Figure 7. On a main circuit connected to the supply line are shunted the circuits for the electric .motor and electromagnets operating the various members, in which mercury switches are the circuit C of the electromagnet M forthe clutch 43 for the feed mechanisms there is a mercury switch 63 which is connected in series closed by the pendulum 6 when the latter is in connected. The circuit A of the motor P is' provided with a hand-operated switch 'II which its zero position, and the pair of delay-action switches 54, in parallel with each-other and- 5 acted upon alternately by either end of the arm 45. Consequently, the clutch '43 for the feed mechanism is not coupled unless the pendulum has been fully restored to zero and one of the switches 64 and 65 has at the same time closed.

turn, one end of said arm opens the switch "84.

which closed the circuit, while the feeler closes the switch 3|. The arm is arrested and the pulling device is set in operation, the pendulum 8 rises till completion of the test and the process is repeated alternately by. the action of the other A mercury switch 66 is placed in the circuit D of the electromagnet S of the distributor and is closed for an instant by the actuating wheel Z every nth (tenth) test; a further switch 61 is available to the operator who, by opening this switch, is able to discontinue the operation of the distributor and efiect any desired number of tests on' one and the same spindle. When the mxn tests are completed, the same wheel Z closes by means of a tooth y the switch 68 of the circuit E of the electromagnet R. which performs the function of releasing the brake 59 by means'of the arm 28 (Figures 1 and 4), thus restoring the needle recording T: to zero. The switch 88 is connected in series with a further mercury switch so. For this reason the closure of switch 68 is not yet suiiicient for the energization of the electromagnet R and release of brake id, which may take has returned to its rest position. As explained above, the pendulum resumes its initial position only after a test registration has been fully completed. Consequently, the brake is released and the needle T2 resumes its initial position only when the last mXn test has been'fuliy recorded. I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

What I claim is: v 1. A machine of the type described for testing threads from a. plurality of bobbins, compris- 5 members adapted to advance the distributor to such an extent that the threads from the individual bobbins come successively within range of said introducing mechanism and automatic means adapted to actuate said members for advancing thedistributor after a determined number of tests.

2. a, machine of the type described for testing threads from a plurality of bobbins, comprising in combination a tensile straining device, a mech- 5 anism for introducing a specimen into said tensile straining device, clamps in said mechanism, for the specimens, a distributor, nippers and an eyelet on said distributor for the thread from each bobbin, said'nippers and eyelet being ar- 39 ranged on either side, respectively, of the path of the clamps of said introducing mechanism, 'members adapted to advance the distributor by such extent that the connectingthreads between the pairedeyelets amd nippers come successively within rangeof. said clamps of the introducing mechanism and automatic means adapted to actuate said advancing members after a predetermined number of tests.

3. A machine of the type described for testing 9 threads from a plurality of bobbins, comprising in combination a tensile straining device, clamps on said tensile straining device for the specimens, a member adapted to introduce the thread into said clamps and free to rotate, means adapted to '5 impart to said member at eachtest a rotation in a ,constant direction, pliers on said member for holding said threads during their introduction, a distributor carrying separately thread lengths from the plurality of bobbins, members adapted w to advance the distributor by such extent that the lengths of the said various threads come successively within range otsaid pliers and automatic means adapted toactuate said advancing members after a predetermined number of tests.

5 4. In a machine for testing yarn 81380111181180! the type described, the combination of a pair of clamps for holding the specimens, a parallelogram one side whereof carries one of said clamps a feeler arranged between said clamps and operated by the specimen, an electric switch actuated by said feeler, on a mechanism for displacing the parallelogram, a clutch in said mechanism and an electric device for actuating said clutch in the supply circuit whereof said switch is placed in such manner as to disengage the clutch for stopping the displacement of said parallelogram when the specimen breaks and to engage the clutch for displacing the parallelogram when a sound specimen is stretched betweenthe clamps.

5. In a machine for testing yarn specimens of thev type described, the combination of a pair of clamps for holding the specimens, "a pulling mechanism connected with one of the clamps, a recording mechanism and, in said recording mechanism, a transmission member connected with the other clamp, two' pawl and ratchet gears the driving members whereof are actuated by said transmission member, two needles for -re-- one of said driven members after each test and a brakeacting on the driven member of the other gear for holding this member in the posi tion reached after each test.

6. In a machine for testing yarn specimens of the type described, the combination of a pair of clamps for holding the specimens and a pulling mechanism connected with one of the clamps, a recording mechanism and in said recording mechanism, a needle for recording elongation of the specimens, a flexible link between the first clamp and said needle, aseond flexible link connected with the pulling mechanism, two rollers adapted to stretch said flexible links and-a common support for said tworollers.

ARRIGO PAGNACCO. 45 

